What Spencer Danielson Said After Boise State Lost to Oregon in Eugene

The No. 7 Oregon Ducks defeated the Boise State Broncos 37-34 in Eugene on Saturday night in front of 58,134 fans.

Boise State out-gained Oregon on the night, finishing with 369 yards of total offense compared to Oregon’s 352, but special teams proved to be the difference for the Ducks.

Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson met with reporters following Saturday night’s game and below you’ll find some of his top quotes from his press conference.

Opening Statement

“We have to find a way to win that game, that’s the thing I told our team. You come to Boise State to be a part of Bronco Nation, to go win that football game. I’m proud of our team. We didn’t finish the game the way we need to. We need to find a way to win that game, we didn’t. We’re going to look at it, learn and grow from it. We’re going to be a better football team because of what we went through tonight. I am proud of how our team battled. They don’t run from hard work. From January to now, this team doesn’t run from it. A lot of times in life, people look for the short line or the easy way. That’s not these players, that’s not our team. Momentum is created through execution. Even when we’re down late in the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter, our guys kept swinging. That’s a test to their heart and who they are. We’re going to learn and grow from this. Our best football is in front of us. I think we showed ourselves tonight. Even for those people who didn’t believe, we have a good football team. We have a group of guys that don’t run from hard work. They are going to do the little things. Now we have to finetune it. We gave up too many explosive plays. You can’t give up two special teams touchdowns and find a way to win a game, but it’s things we can fix, and we have to. I’m proud of our guys, obviously disappointed in the loss. You come to Boise State to win those games. That’s why you come here. That’s why you come here as a coach, to find a way to win those games. We didn’t get it done, but I’m proud of how our guys kept swinging until the end.”

On momentum shift after second special teams touchdown

“Football is a game of momentum. Any big-time explosive plays on special teams or takeaways create momentum. All things that we have to look at and fix. Coach (Stacy) Collins is the best special teams coordinator in the country. I believe that and that will not change. We have to fix it up. We have to find the guys on special teams to win their one-on-ones, no different than in offense and defense. But it’s huge. It was back and forth. We found a way to take the ball away in the fourth quarter, to get the momentum back, to execute, to stay in the fight, because our guys never blinked. They never flinched. Up six going into halftime, 0-0 game, they came out swinging. Lost the lead, then a takeaway, it was a back-and-forth game. We have to find a way to win those games. As a coach, it’s all on me. I have to look at how we’re practicing, how we’re training, to finetune it so we win those football games. You come to Boise State to win games like that, and we have to be better.”

On kickoff execution

“Taren Schive gives our best shot to kick the ball out of the end zone and give us our best kickoffs. He has earned the right to do so. We have to clean up our coverage unit. I haven’t had a chance to watch it on the iPad, but we’ll look at it and clean it up. There’s going to be a matchup that we didn’t execute. It’s football, it’s black and white. Someone did not win their one-on-one and lost leverage. That’s fixable, but we have to. The best teams learn and grow, keep learning. Our team did improve from week one to week two, but we didn’t do enough to win this game.”

On momentum with fumbles and recoveries

“It’s huge. We talk about it all the time. Relentless effort, explosive plays and the turnover margin. That’s the three stats I look at, the three things that win football games. Those takeaways late in the game, great job by our defense. I’m proud of our defense. They were 4-for-12 on third downs today, huge. Got to get off the field. The explosive plays on special teams were obviously huge plays in the game. We had every opportunity to win that game. We have to find a way to get a stop on defense, get our offense back out there and win the game. We didn’t do that.”

On review after Noah Whittington’s return touchdown

“They were thinking that he dropped it late. I haven’t been able to watch the film. They said he dropped it late, then they reviewed it and said it was a touchdown.”

On Maddux Madsen’s performance

“We have to be better in the pass game. Everyone is going to look at the quarterback, but it’s not just him. There’s some alignments and routes that we need to find, we need to win one-on-ones. I have to give a hat off to our offensive line. You lose Roger Carreon early in the game, we’re already without Mason Randolph. Two of our better players in the O-Line out, but found a way for guys to step up, like Zach Holmes coming out there and swinging against one of the best fronts we will see all year. Ashton Jeanty continues to put on displays. He’s the best player in the country and I make no bones about it when I say that. Everything he gets, he earned and deserves. Hats off to our tight ends, to our offensive line, because they came together. But we have to work on our pass game. I know Coach (Dirk) Koetter called a great game, we have to execute when there is a call.”

On hopes for extra touchdown at the end of the first half

“I’m always thinking of scoring touchdowns, but we wanted to take points. There’s always parameters for me. Last week we talked about analytics to win, but I wanted to take points. It’s all about winning the middle eight (minutes). We also got the ball to start the third quarter, so let’s get points. Let’s make it a touchdown game and let’s go get the ball in the third quarter. We definitely thought about it.”

On Ashton Jeanty’s performance

“Oregon is one of the best rushing defenses in the entire country for a reason. They are very well coached. Hats off to Oregon, they won the game. I am proud of how our team battled. You can see who Ashton is, no matter the spotlight. No matter the game, he is going to execute.”

On message from overall performance against Oregon

“We have a really good football team. Maybe people outside our walls didn’t know that. I believe in our team, because of how they work. It’s not because of a talented player or a talented group, it’s because I’ve seen our team work. They don’t run from it, and I’m proud of them for that. That showed up tonight. We didn’t show up to win the game, so we have to find a way to win that game, but we have a good team. We’re going to learn and grow from this. We will be better from September 7 because of how we learned. You can see how our team will battle. Anybody that lines up against us, be ready for a Boise State team that will keep swinging. We’ll be even better down the stretch. I believe that. At the end of the day, I’m proud of how our team came out and swung to the very end. We have to finetune the details and make sure we win that football game.”

On the defensive performance

“We put a huge emphasis on third downs, and holding Oregon to 4-for-12 is a big deal. There’s even more out there for us. Obviously, explosive plays are still an issue, so we have to continue to clean them up. The explosive plays on special teams, the explosive plays on defense. We have to find a way to eliminate, to grow, to be the defense we want, but I’m proud of our defensive staff. We have to find a way to get off the field there at the end of the game. Our defense is built to get off the field at the end of the game, to give our offense a chance in two minutes. We didn’t do it. We have to look at it, grow from it and find from all facets how we can get off the field. It is such a fine line in football. There are no ceremonial losses in football, you win or lose the game. Hats off to Oregon, they did beat us tonight. But I do believe it shows that we have a good team, and we have a team that will battle and fight. Doesn’t matter what stadium, if we’re at home or on the road, put the ball down and I’ll take my boys against anybody in the country. I believe that God has brought us all here for such a time as this. It says that in the Bible and I believe that. Our team is talking about believe. Our team believes they can win any game they go into because they put the work in. I think they have the confidence. Frustrated about the loss, as they should be, but they know now that if you put the ball down, you’re going to get Boise State’s best every time.”

On a reset before three-game homestand

“We can’t wait to get in front of Bronco Nation. Thank you to all the Bronco Nation fans that came all the way out to Autzen to see us play. That is Boise State. We have to find a way to win that game, and I apologize to Bronco Nation that we didn’t get it done tonight. I promise you we are going to learn and grow from it. I promise Bronco Nation that this is a team you can be proud of, that’s never going to quit and we’re going to trust each other to keep growing. Can’t wait to get back on the Blue. Can’t wait to play Portland State in two weeks. We have a bye week, that we have to win the bye week, too. We have to look at these first two games schematically, fundamentally, technically in all three phases. How can we learn and grow from these first two games and be better down the stretch? We have a great group of opponents throughout. There is not one game coming on our schedule that we can take our foot off the gas. The best teams continue to learn and grow and find a way to win every single game. That’s this team.”

On corrections to secondary and explosive plays

“Usually, explosive plays come down to lack of eye control, a lack of communication, or a lack of execution. We have to look at the film and go from there. It’s all about 11 guys playing together. If one guy may be off, it’s going to an explosive play, and that showed up. There were less tonight, but it’s still not enough to win against a top-10 opponent. We have to find a way to win that game. Our players are frustrated because they know what type of team we have, and we’re going to keep getting better. I have to give God all the glory for our team, who they are and who they are going to be. We will grow from this.”

On Zach Holmes’ performance

“Zach did a great job. We went into the game putting all our chips on the table with Zach. He did a great job, especially against one of the best fronts we’ll see all year. Obviously, there’s going to be stuff on film to clean up. Talk about a guy that didn’t blink. He went out there and continued to execute. We put a lot on him. Mason Randolph is one of the best players on our team. Roger Carreon is one of the best players on our team. Losing both of those guys hurts, but you can see good teams have guys that step up. Zach and Tyler, they stepped up and kept getting better. They were able to move the ball from a run offensive standpoint a lot tonight. Now we have to make sure we clean up the pass game.”